Sharif’s surprise agenda

Old wine in new bottle?

The past week has been like a bad hair day for the religious lobby and its cohorts. First the unanimous passage of the Women Protection Bill by the Punjab Assembly incurred the wrath of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. To top this, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her documentary depicting the scourge of honour killing.

And the hanging of former Governor Salmaan Taseer’s self confessed assassin Mumtaz Qadri also ruffled a lot of feathers. He was given a mammoth funeral by at least a hundred thousand followers after President Mamnoon Hussain rejected his mercy petition.

The above three happenings are apparently unrelated. However, there is a common strand – the ostensible resolve of the PML-N government at the federal level and in Punjab to stand up to the formidable obscurantist lobby, hitherto entirely lacking.

Sharif honoured Chinoy even before she won her second Oscar at a function held in her honour at the Prime Minister House. However, the passage of the Women Protection Bill proved to be the proverbial last straw for Maulana Fazl.

He has expressed fears that Pakistan, created in the name of Islam, is being converted into a secular state. The Jamaat-e-Islami chief, Maulana Siraj-ul-Haq, has articulated similar sentiments.

It is another matter that political and religious ancestors of Maulana Fazl and Siraj-ul-Haq, in the very name of Islam, opposed the creation of Pakistan. They branded Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah as Kafir-e-Azam and his creation as ‘Kafiristan’ (land of infidels). Fazl’s late farther Maulana Mufti Mahmud, who was a formidable democratic politician in his own right, is on record as having declared: ‘Thanks to Allah we were not part of the mistake of creating Pakistan.’

Notwithstanding the acts of commission of those who in the past had opposed Pakistan before its creation for whatever reason, as equal citizens of the state they have the democratic right to express their opinions. However, this does not give the right to a very vocal minority to foist its views on the majority of Pakistanis.

Another favourite hobby horse of the religious right and some liberals too is criticising Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. They contend that by her campaign for education for girls and a tolerant society, she somehow tarnishes the image of Pakistan. Chinoy is also supposed to be guilty of the same crime.

Our obsession with portraying a clean image for Pakistan should also mean fixing the problem rather than just shooting the messenger.

The religious zealots smell a US sponsored conspiracy to convert Pakistan into a secular state. Unfortunately, thanks to the powerful section of the media at their beck and call, they brand those espousing an inclusive agenda as secularists and liberals. As if having secular or liberal views was tantamount to being a heretic in the Islamic Republic.

I know a lot of practising Muslims who believe religion is a private affair having nothing to do with the state. They reckon that infusion of religion in statehood simply does not work. Even the late son of Allama Iqbal, Javed Iqbal, an intellectual and a thinker in his own right, championed his own version of secularism and thus incurred the wrath of the religious right in the process.

On can disagree with views expressed by the secularists and liberals. However, they have an equal right to openly express their views without being branded as ghaddars (anti-national).

Unfortunately, the powerful obscurantist lobby deliberately tries to distort and misinterpret Jinnah’s teachings. The Founder of Pakistan’s August 11, 1947, speech in the Constituent Assembly is like a red rag for the bull. And his message of tolerance and equal rights for minorities is simply an anathema for them.

One swallow, however, does not make a spring. The PML-N government has a lot to do before it can claim to even have a handle on effectively thwarting persecution of minorities, women and the downtrodden in the name of false religiosity or feudal culture and traditions.

There are a number of discriminatory clauses in the constitution mostly inserted by dictators like the late General Zia-ul-Haq through fiat that need to be fixed. Similarly, proactive legislation protecting the rights of all citizens irrespective of caste creed or gender is required.

But whether the PML-N government really has the political will to walk the talk remains a moot point. Despite having its roots in Zia-ul-Haq’s partyless system, the Party brazenly claims to be Jinnah’s legatee. However, for decades in the past it has hitched its wagon with politics of the Jamaat and the religious right.

With Nawaz Sharif becoming prime minister for the third time, this brand of politics has worked well for him. Perhaps a metamorphosis has taken place in his thinking? Probably yes. But the leopard can’t change its spots so easily.

The PML-N has successfully garnered the formidable Islamic vote in Punjab for decades now. Why should it abandon a winning formula by shifting gears at this juncture?

One obvious explanation for adopting a more nuanced policy on social issues could perhaps emanate from the elder Sharif’s daughter Maryam’s induction into politics. She is known to be relatively more enlightened and a feminist of sorts.

Perhaps another reason could be the Sharifs’ continued suzerainty in Punjab. With the PPP no longer a threat, the party knows that in the next elections it will have to compete with the PTI to appeal to the formidable women vote.

Nonetheless, to reset the agenda after decades of pursuing an obscurantist approach will not be easy. Perhaps the government’s first test will be what to do with the so-called Council of Islamic Ideology, headed by a half baked Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani.

The Council has rejected the Women Protection Bill, terming it as un-Islamic. Previously the Council has sanctioned child marriages, and had proscribed admission of DNA testing in rape cases. The Maulana, who incidentally belongs to the JUI-F, also supports niqab for Muslim women to cover their faces and preferably gloves and socks to cover their hands and feet.

Thankfully, the Council’s edicts are not mandatory. Nonetheless they make a mockery of modern Islam. Instead of doling out the position of the chairman and members of the Council on the basis of political exigencies, the least the government can do is to reconstitute the body with able scholars who can interpret Islam in modern times.

The government imposed a cordon sanitaire on the media on the coverage of Mumtaz Qadri’s funeral. Heavens would not have fallen if PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) had not imposed pre-censorship on the electronic media.

The media however faithfully complied. In this age of rampant social media and wide incursion of the foreign media, what is the point of depriving the citizenry of their right to information? The religious lobby has a tremendous capacity for rabble rousing. Hence merely imposing censorship cannot curb their message.

It is obvious that it will take a Herculean effort to change the present jaundiced narrative. Sharif cannot do it alone. At least a consensus amongst mainstream political parties needs to be built.

In the prevalent milieu it seems a virtual impossibility. Unless a counter narrative is created to defeat the shenanigans of the obscurantist lobby, the war against terrorism cannot be won in letter and spirit.